Coming Back
by Jaimie-Lannister
Summary: Taking place right after the end of House of Hades, Hazel is again confronted by Hecate and provided with information that sends Leo on a mission to find the one he lost.


**LEO'S P.O.V.**

My eyesight blurs into focus and I see the clock next to my bed. 6:11. What am I supposed to do for the next hour and a half? I probably should go back to sleep but that's a really, _really_ bad idea. Some nights I get lucky and only have one nightmare. This last one has left me chilled to the bone and I'm afraid if I fall asleep, it'll come back. We failed. Gaea had beaten us. I was searching frantically to find Ogygia using the astrolabe and crystal. But I couldn't. It had been destroyed, just as Gaea said it would be, and Calypso was gone with it. I pulled myself up from my bed and pulled my mind away from such thoughts. Still over an hour before the others start waking up. I suppose I'll tinker around in the engine room. While tinkering is comforting, it also gives plenty of room to think. I get above deck- wait. Why did I go up? Sometimes my brain and lack of ability to concentrate on the simplest tasks make me want to groan. Looking out into the horizon, I see a blurred figure running towards the ship.

"Hazel! What were you doing out there?" I shout. Now that she's gotten closer, I can tell she looks pale and terrified. And only 6:30 AM. Welcome to life of a demigod, well, a demigod who's part of some huge crazy prophecy. Once she got back to the Argo II, I helped her up on deck. "What happened? You look like you just saw your dad."

"Ha-ha. No," she says, rolling her eyes. "Hecate."

Again? Shit. "Oh. What did she say?"

"Um, I'd rather say it once so… want to help me wake the others?"

"Really? Because I got bored and brainstormed some… creative ways to wake people up."

Hazel put a hand to my chest and said, "On the other hand, I think I'll handle this."

She turned and began to walk towards the steps that would lead her to the cabins. "I'll be waiting in the mess hall then," I called after her.

After a good ten minutes of twiddling my thumbs and wretched thing your brain does called _thinking,_ my friends trudged in sleepy and annoyed. "Glad to know that you people have the ability to move slower than a turtle."

"It's…" Piper looks around to find a clock, "six forty-five!"

"And?"

"And I'd rather be sleeping. Why are you up so early anyways?"

"It's not that I was up early, _I_, unlike you, _can_ move faster than a turtle."

"Well then. At least the result of me being woken up is being groggy rather than a sour little ass." She turns away from me. I can't say she doesn't have a point. She then changes the subject with a simple "Hazel?"

"Right," Hazel says, "Hecate visited me again."

Zhang jumped in, "What!? And you didn't tell anyone? What did she say?"

Hazel shrugged to answer his second question. "Well, she congratulated me on Pasiphaë and told me that there's only one way we can win... all of _this_," she confessed with a pause. "She said there's a form of magic in a potion. You create the potion and then draw magical energies from it. She suggested that I should practice summoning magic. There's one potion that will give us a fighting chance against Gaea. She said my 'blond friend' has the recipe, which I'm assuming is Annabeth."

"I'll go look through some of my books now," Annabeth responded almost immediately while rising from the table.

"Hey, I'm blond, too," Jason said.

"And let me guess- you've been secretly hoarding potion recipes?" I joked with a smile. Annabeth left towards the rooms.

"So, why is Hecate even helping us?" I ask no one in particular.

"Hecate said that she lost a bet," Hazel responded.

"Ha! We have a fighting chance because of a _bet_!" I rise from the table, "Ah, well, you know where to find me," I told the group before leaving the room myself. I can't help but realize I've been spending more and more of my time alone. I just can't stop thinking about her. I think I should tell one of the others just in case I… can't make the trip myself. I can't bring myself to just yet. Soon. Soon I'll force myself to tell someone. She is not going to spend another century on that island. Never again. It tears me apart to think of her spending more time alone.

The next half hour was a complete alternation between thinking about Calypso and trying not to. After thirty minutes I gave up and went back to the mess hall. Only Piper and Jason were still seated at the table. "Back so soon?" Piper asks.

I shrug and ask a simple, "What's up?"

"We were just talking…" Jason says.

"About you," Piper cuts in, "We're worried about you." Her words feel heavy in my chest. "You've been acting different ever since… Well that's another thing. Why won't you tell us what happened to you? Is it that bad?"

"It's not- It-" How am I supposed to say this? Why haven't I already? Why do I feel the need to keep it a secret? Why is it so _hard_ to talk about it? I know I should tell them, that I _can._ They are my best friends and I shouldn't keep secrets from them. Especially one like this. But I am. I'm not supposed to be the one burdened by feelings. There's enough pain in this ship, in this world. How much I wish I could just laugh this off. Sharing a burden doesn't make it any easier to carry, not really. I'm so conflicted. They should know. I can do this. I take a deep breath. _I can do this._ "I-"

"I found something!" Annabeth is standing in the doorway. Thank the gods. Percy is over her shoulder, grinning like an idiot. Hazel and Frank come running after them.

"What is it?" I can't express my gratitude for this subject change.

"This was the only thing that made the tiniest bit of sense. A potion to kill the earth. I think the potion was meant to sabotage fellow gardeners," Annabeth announces with an eye roll.

"Godly pride," Hazel mutters.

"The potion doesn't look _too_ difficult to produce except… we need moonlace," she reveals.

"Moonlace?" Percy asks in disbelief.

"Moonlace," Annabeth confirms.

_Moonlace._

They start discussing but I'm not listening. Something about how there isn't enough time to go to New York. My heart is racing with palpitations so fast they could kill me. I want to scream and cry and release all of these emotions I haven't been allowing myself to feel. I can't believe it. _I can't believe it. This is actually happening._ There's only one place that moonlace grows. _We're going back._

"Piper," I interrupt with a tone so affirmative it cuts off whatever the Hades they were saying, "Remember the astrolabe? Go get it for me?"

"Um… Okay," she responds confusedly. I dash down the hall to my room. My hands fly to a set of clothes Calypso had made for me. Carefully wrapped in them are the crystals from her island. We were actually doing this. Once I get back to the mess hall, Piper has the astrolabe. I take it from her and give her a word of thanks.

"What…?" Percy asks, the one with the most confused face of all.

"We're going to Ogygia," I say with a cocky grin, "Of course."

* * *

Thanks so much for reading! Please tell me what you think! Spring break is next week, so hopefully I'll have another chapter up soon!

XOXO,

Jaimie


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